Archive

Disbanded Iraq army may resist

A top member of the disbanded Iraqi military warned the US on Sunday that it may soon come to regret firing almost 400,000 soldiers and civil servants.

25 May 2003 14:13 GMT

Sacked Iraqi soldiers said tobe getting ready to resist

Colonel Najib Khalifeh – a member of Iraq's elite Republican Guards for 19 years - issued a stark warning to the US administration.

" Don't throw the sacked soldiers out on the streets or they could return to haunt you." he warned.

Khalifa said sacked soldiers would do anything to feed their families.

"All of us had not been paid since March. Many of us depend on our salaries to feed our families and if this financial source stops, some soldiers will be forced to loot and kill to eat, and others will organise to fight the Americans," he said.

Khalifeh said it was unfair to impose collective punishment on soldiers who were forced to fight all Iraq's battles unconvinced of their leadership's motives and war plans.

Iraqi soldiers forced to sell weapons to survive

The United States on Friday dissolved the defence and information ministries and all of Iraq's armed forces, sacking more than 400,000 people.

The US occupation forces had warned Iraqis that after 14 June, individuals caught with unauthorised weapons will be detained and face criminal charges.

The disarmament order excludes Peshmerga Kurdish fighters, who battled alongside US forces in the war and would be allowed to retain arms in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.

Pistols, AK-47 assault rifles and even anti-tank grenades, are sold cheaply in Iraq's markets.